This summer has been CRAZY. I have lots of pictures, but that will have to wait.
Here is an update of what’s been going on:
Right after school got out El Jefe took a solo vacation to Rexburg for ten days. Yes, ten whole days.
Two days after he got back, we headed to Lake Tahoe for a family reunion (my side of the family). It was heaven. I will blog about it later.
We got back from Tahoe Sunday night, and Monday morning El Jefe headed off to Scout Camp for five days. Yes, five more days.
Four days after he got back, we headed North again. We had to be in Washington on Sunday evening for El Jefe’s family reunion. After that, we drove over to Idaho for El Jefe’s extended family reunion. We went through five states in one week! We. Are. Awesome. Seven states in all! Or We. Are. Crazy.
Here are some of the highlights:
1. Sleeping under the Northern Nevada stars. You forget how many there really are when you’re a city girl.
2. Driving through little towns wondering if they are a nice place to live.
3. Walking through a lava tube near Mt. Shasta, CA. That was cool.
4. The views!
5. Sleeping in the most comfortable bed ever in Bandon, OR thanks to my brother “Hank,” his wife “SusyQ,” and her family.
6. Holding a live starfish. I love tide pools and seeing all the creatures but I don’t really like touching them.
7. Racing with my nieces on the beach in Bandon.
8. Looking at Multnomah (sp?) Falls and trying to get the perfect B&W shot to hang in our bedroom.
9. People watching at Multnomah (sp?) Falls. Seriously.
10. Running in the morning hours on the beach at Ocean Shores.
11. Finding a ton of sand dollars on said beach.
12. Being in the presence of the Largest Spruce Tree (in the world?).
13. Being in the presence of another freakin’ huge tree (a Cedar), but I don’t know it’s rank or comparison to other trees.
14. Being within 90 miles of Forks, WA and being able to get a better sense of where a game of Vampire Baseball might take place (that’s for all you Twilight fans).
15. More views and more driving (is that a highlight? Just the views I suppose).
16. Jumping into icy cold water for the sake of a relay race and dressing like a super hero to do it. Just ask my husband’s cousin’s son. Ok, it was just a wet suit, but Guy says my superhero name would be Iron Girl.
17. Finally water skiing for the first time in five years. Note to self: Just because you are a mommy doesn’t mean you have to stop doing the things you like to do.
18. Helping coach some cute little girls to get up on ski’s for the first time. (El Jefe’s cousin and his second cousin one removed?!) They were seriously close to getting it! (After I skiied one of them said “Good job! You did better than we did!”)
19. Riding the Rexburg Carousel.
20. Playing in the cool weather of Rexburg (thanks for having us Mom and Dad A.)
21. Watching Chunk #1 peel out in the go-karts at the “RIOT ZONE!!!” because he is now “four enough” (something the child has been looking forward to all year).
22. Making a come back as the “Lady of Catan.”
23. Staying up til 2:00 and cracking up with Dave and Lisa.
24. While on Temple Square, asking El Jefe’s Danish friends, “So, did you see the Christus statue yet?” I caught myself half way through that question but it was too late. The words came. We laughed at my stupidity. And we moved on. (For those who are wondering why that was a stupid question: the ORIGINAL Christus statue was created by a Danish artist and resides in Denmark. They can see it any time they want.)
25. Doing some triathlon training with Kristy. She kicked my booty.
26. Having my bike fixed by Ike. Thanks Ike.
27. Visiting our favorite store, IKEA.
28. Stopping and swimming with friends at Warms Springs Ranch on the way home. That place holds a lot of childhood and teenage memories.
29. Walking into our house and sleeping in our own beds (although Chunk #1 still wanted to camp or sleep at somebody else’s house).
Whoa! That’s a long list from just the top of my head. We made a lot of memories on our 15 day trip and we went over 3000 miles. El Jefe and I still like each other and we still like the kids, too. That’s good. El Jefe also just calculated today that he has spent a total of 7 days at home this summer. So, now I say, “Let the house projects begin!!! or Continue!!!” “Yea!”
Pictures will be coming soon…